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Songs and the Liberation Struggle in South Africa

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Songs and the Liberation Struggle in South Africa ISSN 2039-2117 (online) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 5 No 27 ISSN 2039-9340 (print) MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy December 2014 Voices of Liberation: Songs and the Liberation Struggle in South Africa Rachidi Molapo University of Venda, RSA [email protected] Doi:10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n27p985 Abstract Many communities around the world have taken part in songs and dance or have witnessed roles played by songs. However, scholarly focus on such a field of study has been very limited. This study challenges for a new consideration of what songs are and the roles they play or played in contemporary society. Songs have been means of communication, education and importantly played important roles in the struggle against apartheid. When the apartheid regime became repressive by banning or exiling leaders, suppressing information, songs in vernacular or indigenous languages flourished in promoting resistance texts. These songs flourished like graffities in repressive environments. They were used as propaganda tools by the liberation movements and at the same time dealing with state propaganda. They were platforms of propaganda in a dialectical relationship with the state but also embodied other elements beyond these parameters. Songs have been fundamental instruments of resistance, heritage and history. This study looks at how South African activists used songs and the struggle against apartheid and the post-apartheid scenario. Focus will be on the pre-1960 period, exile and the post- apartheid dynamics. A qualitative research methodology has been useful for this study because of the human agency aspect. Keywords: Apartheid (racial discrimination), Nkosi sikelel’ i-Africa (Lord bless Africa), siyanqonqoza (knocking) umshini wami, ibhunu (white farmer), dubula (shoot), exile. 1. Introduction Oral history and songs have not found favour in scholarly work in South African scholarship. Most of our historians have been largely influenced by the works of the German historian Von Ranke’s emphasis on archival or written sources. According to HughTrevor-Roper, Africa did not have history because it was primitive and backward but the history of the European (Mazrui,1999:580-676). This has posed huge challenges to the history of communities with a non-literary culture as they were or are largely perceived not to have written history. However, some historians have seen the value of oral history and songs. In his work on forced removals of the Makuleke people in the Phafuri triangle, Patrick Harries shows how the Makuleke people used songs against “removals, proletarianisation and ethnic mobilisation”. (Harries,1987:111) While Leroy Vail and Landeg White’s work shows the use of poetry and songs as medium through which the history of plantation workers in Mozambique was reconstructed (Vail, 1991:205). This also showed the sufferings and resistance of plantation workers. In Deborah James’s study on the ‘songs of the women migrants’ shows how women from the former Lebowa homeland or what has become known as Limpopo Province today, women became urbanised like their male counterparts. (James, 1999) These women organised themselves into small support groups such as ‘mogodiܜano’ or “women kiba” clubs for survival and entertainment. (James, 1999:1) They joined music and dance groups and competed along local and regional basis. These songs are more “social” and “cultural” in orientation than “political” in nature. In this study, songs capture the history and heritage of a people. Through these songs, we are able to see the educative aspects of songs as they are rooted in particular contexts. One song that started as a hymn has rich history in South Africa’s struggle against ‘racial rule’(Saunders: 2). White contact with Blacks saw missionaries from European countries coming into the country to civilise and introduce the native speakers to the word of God. One such a song that arose out of the missionary projects was from the Methodist church called Nkosi sikeleli’ i-Africa. Nkosi sikeleli’ iafrica started as a hymn composed by Enoch Sontonga.(Sowetan, 2005). In 1925 the African National Congress (ANC) adopted the hymn as its anthem. The song states: Nkosi sikeleli’ i-Africa Lord bless Africa Maluphakanyisw’ uphondo lwayo Let its horn be blessed Yiswa immitandazo yethu Listen also to our prayers 985 ISSN 2039-2117 (online) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 5 No 27 ISSN 2039-9340 (print) MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy December 2014 Nkosi sikelela –Nkosi Sikelela Lord Bless Maluphanyis’ uphondo lwayo Come spirit Yizwa imitatandazo yethu Listen to our prayers Nkosi sikelela-Thina lusapho lwayo We, thy children. Nkosi sikelela Thina lusapho lwayo Morena boloka Sechaba sa heso O fedise dintwa le matswenyeho Morena boloka Sechaba sa heso. The anthem was sung at functions where South Africans found themselves in exile and in South Africa. It is deeply religious reflecting the beliefs of the people on issues of justice and peace. Apart from the secular aspects of notions of justice, the hymn makes people aware of a higher deity to consider in human affairs. The hymn makes passionate plea to the higher deity for an end to suffering and poverty which are prevalent in the country. Other governments within Southern Africa such as Zambia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe have adopted this anthem as well. After the banning of organisations in South Africa following the Sharpeville massacre, scores of activists left the country for exile while others were imprisoned. Thabo Mbeki, a young South African who left the country in the early 1960s, remembers that he and some of his colleagues sang,’ onwards Christian soldiers’. Reflecting on his detention experiences, Joe Slovo makes the point that: John Lang, an attorney and liberal activist, had a lay connection with the church, which was to stand us in good stead-experience with the church choirs. He spent many hours teaching us the art of harmony, and towards the end of our period of detention we could render numerous choral works with reasonable artistry. I began to see how the harmony skills of black crowds had their origins in church and in culture in which communal singing is an important form of social togetherness. (Slovo, 1996:126) After the banning of the ANC and other organisations in 1960, the arrest of the MK High Command in 1963, the leadership of the organisations passed over to Oliver Tambo as leader of the external mission. The following song reflects that situation. Skhokhele Tambo Lead us Tambo O’ Mandela nabo Sisulu Mandela and Sisulu and others Bavalelw’entolongweni Are locked in jails. S’khokhele Tambo Lead us Tambo Baba Luthuli Father Luthuli Siyokokhumbula We will remember you. Endleleni yenkululeko The road to freedom. This song tells us a bit about the leadership changes within the liberation movement. The leadership of the organisation changed after the Rivonia arrest. Reginald Oliver Tambo took over. Supporters were singing this song to show sadness after Albert Luthuli, an ANC president from 1944-1967 was killed by a moving train in Natal. This generated suspicions on the government as he was banned and confined to his house in Groutville. Between1960 to 1968 the internal resistance movement in the country was silent. The fear of long term imprisonment and exile inflicted so much fear in activists in showing any resistance to the state. The structures of the movement in the country were totally wiped out. It was at the end of the 1960s that a group of students at the University of Natal ignited the resistance against ‘racial order’. The students shared a different ideological orientation known as black consciousness movement (BCM) from the ANC which placed emphasis on liberating the oppressed mentally so that they would be in a position to challenge their oppressors. Steven Bantu Biko became famous for leading a breakaway student movement South African 986 ISSN 2039-2117 (online) Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences Vol 5 No 27 ISSN 2039-9340 (print) MCSER Publishing, Rome-Italy December 2014 Student Organisation (SASO) from the white dominated National Union of South African Students (NUSAS). (Biko,1978:11) The formation of SASO influenced student politics in the country and the majority of black leaders in the country articulated a black consciousness perspective. This was a powerful paradigm shift in the post- Sharpeville era in the absence of the ANC and the PAC with their ideologies. Ngugi wa Thiong’o, one of Africa’s best writers articulated the role Biko and the movement he represented by stating that, “Biko is among this great gallery of people whose work and devotion have impacted those beyond the native shores and which make it possible for us even to talk about the possibilities of a new Africa out of the ashes of latter-day empires”. (Ngugi wa Thiong’o, 2009: 51) As these developments were taking place in the country those who left the country for exile struggled to return after acquiring military training. This saw groups from South Africa and Zimbabwe establishing a joint front to be able to challenge for power in their respective countries in terms of what became known as the Wankie campaign. These efforts were heroic but many of the cadres from the respective entities ended in jails in Zimbabwe and Botswana because they failed to penetrate the settler military establishments. The tragic death of Chief Albert Luthuli coincided with the group of guerrillas who had attempted to cross into Zimbabwe and South Africa from Zambia. This campaign was named after Luthuli and became known as the Luthuli detachment. The schemes that ensued during this encounter had casualties from both sides. The land question in both countries continued to cause bitterness within the exile communities and this is reflected in the kinds of songs sung. One song stated that: Sikhalela izwe lakithi we mourn for our country.
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